By Michael Freeman, Assistant Sports Editor
The Wildcats let a victory get away from them Saturday in San Angelo.
ACU missed four free throws in the final 6.4 seconds as they lost 74-72 to Angelo State. With the loss, ACU is 7- 8 on the season and 1-1 in the Lone Star Conference South Division, while Angelo State improves to 14-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
“I really felt we played well the whole game until the last three or four minutes,” said head coach Shawna Lavender. “And then we started playing not to lose instead of playing to win.”
The Wildcats played their home opener against Eastern New Mexico in Moody Coliseum on Tuesday, but results were not available by press time.
Earlier in the game, ACU led by as many as 13 points with 11 minutes remaining in the second half. The Wildcats kept the lead until the 4:12 mark when they were up 72-66. But Angelo State scored six points while ACU went cold from the field for the remainder of the game.
“We had our chances to tie it at the end of the game,” Lavender said. “But it should’ve never come to the free throws at the end. We really had control of the game, and we just let one slip away.”
Still, some Wildcats put up some big point totals. Center Audrey Maxwell led ACU in scoring with 21 points. Guard Alex Guiton and forward Kristee Davidson also scored in double-digits with 18 and 17 points respectively. But the timing of the scoring proved to be more important than the total point counts.
In the final 11 minutes, Angelo State outscored ACU 28-13 while contributing to a blistering 44.4 field goal shooting percentage in the second half. The Wildcats, on the other hand, only hit 39.1 percent of their shots in the second half after shooting 54.8 percent in the first half.
“We played well, but it doesn’t do us any good to play well for 36 minutes,” Lavender said. “We’ve got to finish them out in all
40 minutes.”
ACU’s next game is Saturday as the Wildcats play Midwestern State. The Mustangs are 7-8 overall and 1-1 in the Lone Star
Conference.
“Midwestern has got a good team,” Lavender said. “I think they’re going to beat a lot of people in conference this year, just hopefully not us.”
